Star Fox: The Dollar and The Key
by Xxstar-hit96
Summary: Another story by the infamous Xxstar-hit96, the same author who brought you SF: Reunited With Home. This story will take readers on a thrilled action packed ride that will leave them hanging on the edge of their seat. Fox and Krystal must venture into no-mans-land to save one of their own, some thing terrible happens and Krystal almost loses her son and her husband to... Herself...
1. Prologue

**_Okay so, to start this story off I would like to mention to everyone that reads this, if I have PMed you and told you about my upcoming story, SF: Before Times, _****_THIS IS NOT THAT STORY._****_ I came up with this idea a few days ago now and I feel this has potential, so before Emile The Watcher does a one-shot on this, I'm gonna write this out how I want it and take full credit {no hard feelings Emile, your stories are still some of the best I've ever read. :)}. Okay, on that, I would also like to say, I feel as though my writing spirit has come back to me... Too fast... "So much to write, so little time." and now that's out of the way, please enjoy my latest story, Star Fox: The Dollar and The Key. (Don't ask where I got the title.)_**

* * *

Star Fox: The Dollar and The Key

Fox McCloud is nearing his old age. He is 42 and is a retired mercenary. He keeps having flashbacks to his younger days. The days that made him retire from the Force.

The Great Fox had beed retired along with him, in hopes that his upcoming family can take the reins of Star Fox.

"No, no... Take me, take me..." Fox was mumbling in his sleep, this had been a regular thing for him to do considering that Peppy Hare had gone on to be the General of Corneria. Krystal, Fox's wife, was lying next to him on her left side looking out the window. There was something about the moon and the stars that made her rest easy at night. Ever since "The Accident" happened, both fox's retired from the Force.

It wasnt hard to tell that Fox was having another nightmare, the bed would shake a little, almost unnoticeable. Almost... except for a certain blue vixen that lay at his side. She opened her eyes and laid there, motionless, listening to what Fox was saying, trying to diagnose and see if there was any chance she could save him from his nightmares. Thats when she was inturrupted.

"NO!" He shot up from his sleeping position, eyes wide in fear. Claws drawn and palms clammy.

He took a deep breath to calm him down and glanced at his wife, she hadn't moved an inch, her breath still deep. To Fox, she looked like she had been asleep the entire time, and still was.

Fox slipped out of the bed and made his way silently to the bathroom of their master bedroom.

He stopped and turned to shut the door just as he was doing so he saw Krystal roll over facing away from him. After he saw this, he shut the door most of the way so that there was only a crack separating the door from it's casing.

Turning the light on he looked at himself in the mirror, he happened to leave his red boxers on before bed so at least he was presentable.

As he stared at himself, thoughts now roamed his mind freely. '_Why couldn't I stop it? What if I did stop it? Would my life be any different if I had? Krystal's sure would... "Chicks dig scars" they say... On men though, not themselves! God, why couldn't I have fucking stopped it!?'_ His mind was so consumed by his own thoughts that he didn't see in the mirror that the door had opened as Krystal walked into the room.

She was wearing one of Fox's shirts as nightwear. It was a full black shirt that Fox had gotten a while back to help support the relief effort from the massive flood that came through Corneria city. The front of the shirt said; space force 101 hell or high water. It inspired people to do what they could to help as the city basically shut down for a full week and more to rebuild.

Krystal walked up to Fox and placed a paw on his shoulder making him flinch a little as he snapped out of his thoughts.

Krystal frowned as she looked at Fox dead in the eyes through the mirror, and spoke in her melodic accented voice, "It happened again... didn't it?" She said softly as she stroked the red fox's tense shoulders.

Fox merely swallowed hard and nodded looking down to the sink breaking the gaze between himself and Krystal. Whenever he had this particular night-fright he almost couldn't stand to look at Krystal face to face, as she bared a permanent mark upon her face of Fox's failure.

Krystal had a six inch scar running from under her right eye to the bottom of her face. It wasn't a regular scar either, with Krystal being a full blood Cerinian, her gene pool reacted differently to scar tissue. Instead of them being red with a sickly skin tone to it, scars would automatically fill in with dark blue fur, that way if you got a cut on any part of your body it would be more likely to blend back in with rest of the Cerinian's fur tone. Unless you were Krystal, her facial fur was white, and two years ago she just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time...

"Would you like to talk about it?" Krystal asked in a soothing voice as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Krystal always asked him this when he woke up like this. He would always say no and shake it off and climb back into bed with her. She was stricken when Fox delayed his response and turned his head toward her. He lifted a paw to the side of her face and ran a finger down the ice blue furry scar she had, dropping his hand back to the side he looked at himself in the mirror again. If his reflection had a mind of its own, he sworn it would've picked up a gun and shot him between the eyes... At least thats what it felt like to him.

Krystal was still waiting for her answer and grazed his mind with hers, finding out what he was thinking, 'I should talk to her about it... Maybe not...' His subconscious thought trailed off when he nodded his head and replied with an almost non-audible "yes."

While she was relieved he had said yes to her proposal, she was worried at what it might entail. Fox never once spoke word of his dreams to anyone other than General Peppy, but now he was busy running the army, and doing a damn good job at it too. Krystal could've read Fox's mind easily to find out what made him so distressed, but she decided it was best if Fox open up on his own. It sure took a while, but it finally worked.

"Where do you want to sit? Do you want to go downstairs? Have some tea?" Krystal asked nicely and quietly trying to be as soothing to the red fox as she could. Inside she was hoping Fox said he wanted tea, even her saying the word tea out loud made her mouth water. She loved tea. Ever since Fox first introduced her to tea when she first boarded Great Fox, she was hooked from the get-go.

Fox nodded, "I could go for some tea." He murmured as he pawed at the small of her back, and worked his way up to her shoulder blades.

"Okay, Fox. Shall we go?" Krystal spoke and gave him a light squeeze from the right. She knew that it was a hard topic to talk about. And she was there to comfort him through the thick and the thin. Telepathy helped her as she talked to and comforted Fox, because everyone reached their limit for comfort after a while and soon they would need some time to themselves and she didn't want to push Fox past his limit and have him freak out on her for being nagging too much.

'_I'm... I'm ready to tell you everything Krystal... I'm sorry that its taken so long..._' He thought, knowing Krystal would hear him. Sometimes Fox would do that, if he didn't feel comfortable hearing himself say what he needed.

"Fox, if you have hid it from me for so long and dealt with it on your own... it must be pretty important to you." Krystal said to him as she stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

Krystal was about half a foot shorter than Fox, she liked his taller height, it made her feel safe and secure.

...

Downstairs the duo sipped tea slowly and Fox was thinking in his mind how to start off this emotional conversation. Fox always has loved Krystal, since the moment he laid eyes on her cerulean coloured fur he fell in love with her and he knew that he HAD to save her from that prison that was slowly killing her.

Krystal was drawing closer to breaking the silence when Fox was sitting down basically eluding her questions.

Fox looked like a nervous wreck, it looked as if he hadn't slept for days on end, the more that he had thought about the situation te more he started to shake and fidget in his seat. Krystal never saw him in this light before, she always saw him as the proud, shy, and loveable Fox McCloud.

He glanced at Krystal, but it looked as though he was looking right through her, he was that scared.

"Fox? Are you going to be able to tell me whats bothering you?" Krystal asked, her voice cracking now and again with worry.

Fox blinked and came out of his trance again. When he shook his head he raised his cup to his lips and downed the three-quarters of hot tea that was left, and set the cup down on the table in front of him.

Sitting back in his chair he sighed, "Krystal... I don't really know how exactly to start saying what I want to say. I mean... Peppy doesn't even know about this. I've been meaning to tell him and he's just been busy running the army and I've just neglected getting help of any kind."

Krystal leaned forward in her seat locking gazes with the red fox, "'Fox', you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Yes Krystal, I know-"

"Does it have anything to do with me at all."

"Well yes-"

"Did I hurt you in some way?"

"Did- no Krystal, not at all." He said quickly, "We're retired, we own a beautiful house and a nice-sized ranch, your my loving wife and you've blessed me with the perfect son, and... my life can't get any better." Fox sighed shakily on the verge of tears, not tears because he was sad about the situation he was in, but tears because he was sad about the past situation that he and Krystal were in, where she almost lost her life to a madman with a knife. It scared Fox and scarred him for life the day he almost lost his wife and the day Markus almost lost his mother. Krystal on the other hand, had come to terms about it and prayed to the gods, thanking them for saving her.

"Well, yes, but... What is it that's bothering you so much, Fox? Every time you make the slightest movement or mumble... I wake up and I-I hear you, I worry about you, and I want to do everything in my power to help you. But I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong with you, why your having these dreams. Is it something that you haven't come to terms with yet or... what? You need to tell me, honey."

"I know Krystal, I know... I want to, I really do... It's just... I don't know how to word it exactly."

"Well don't sugar coat it for my sake, tell me from the beginning."

Fox sighed and leaned forward in his seat resting his arms on his knees as if he was keeling over, looking at his turning thumbs he spoke up, "It was during our last op... Before we retired..."

Krystal nodded, "I thought that might have been it."

Fox nodded solemnly, "Yeah... Operation Dollar and Key was... by far the saddest day of my adulthood... If not my life."

"Well... Lay it on me. Don't hold back any details."

"Well... It all started like this..."

...

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**_So now that you have read the first (short) chapter, let me know what you think in the box below, don't forget that ANYONE can review, even non-members. This chapter was a lot shorter than I expected please don't fret though, my next ones will be feature length. (As they always should be.)_**


	2. Details, Why must you hurt me?

Star Fox: The Dollar and The Key Chapter 2 (story inspired by a Canadian silver dollar and a handcuff key...)

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_**Here we are Chapter Two. something I threw together, before the action rains down like fire on our heads. (hopefully i can keep you entertained.) well thats all i got for now, (except before you read, I need to tell you that I MIGHT have stretched the rating a little passed PG-13. but i cant tell because its my first time doing work like this {that's gotten on here anyway} and i have no better judgement, so you tell me if i did s o can change it, otherwise its going to stay as-is until later on)**_

_**Thank you and enjoy chapter two!**_

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Bridge command centre, Great Fox. July 15, 2535, 11:30 AM

* * *

Fox and Krystal McCloud, and Slippy Toad were on the bridge of the Great Fox. The team happened to have the day off, even after General Peppy contacted them for a mission. It wasn't the most pleasant mission call they have had, so the General gave them a days grace to talk over the mission details and get back to the him weather they wanted to fulfil the mission and do "dirty-work" for the first time since before Krystal joined the team.

Fox paced the front of the bridge thinking, while his teammates sat in the two chairs that belonged to their consoles, "Okay, since Falco is no longer with us, this wont become a dictatorship, I will let you two decide whether or not we do this job. I'm in favour of both options, I don't have a set mind yet... I'm itching for a fight, my body is telling me, but at the same time my instincts are telling me that I shouldn't go through with this job because I have a family now... But on a side note... How am I going to support my family with no money. I'm in favour for both options like I said, so prove me wrong, make up my mind for me and take as much time as you guys need, we still have a full day. Dismissed."

Slippy stood up from his console and made his way off the bridge to the hangar. He still was doing his tinkering with Arwings, making them faster and more nimble. Krystal stayed up on the bridge with Fox. Glancing down to the steel deck plates, she twisted the chair back and forth and stood fast making it spin a few rotations.

She walked up to Fox and stopped his pacing for him, by standing in front of him and holding a paw out to his chest. As he took one step closer to her she looked up into his glowing green orbs, and smiled. He smiled back, but not as genuine. His mind was in a different place at that moment.

"I don't know what to do anymore Krystal... My mind is telling me to go though with this and my instincts are telling me to '_not_' go through with this because I have a family now that I have to protect and take care of... But with no money... it becomes really difficult to do that." Fox murmured to Krystal as he knelt down and kissed her lips.

Since Fox and Krystal's wedding four years ago he had become quite forward and open to Krystal. Though she missed giving Fox a hard time about his emotions, she liked this side of him better because he wouldn't hold anything back from her, he felt the need to tell her everything not only on a physical and mental level, but a more intimate and spiritual level as well. This is what she wanted the most in life. A man that would unconditionally love her, something that Panther tried to do, but failed miserably because of his oversized ego.

When the kiss broke, Krystal looked back into Fox's eyes and raised a paw to his cheek, stroking his cheek with the back of her knuckles. "You'll think of something Fox, you always do."

Fox sighed and shook his head slowly, "That's what I'm worried about..." He murmured as he stepped away from his wife and leaned on the hand rail, looking out the viewport and into space. The Great Fox was still in orbit and Corneria was to the left of the viewport, "I'm worried about making the '_wrong_' choice... I have a family now..." Krystal came to his right and mimicked Fox, resting her arms on the handrail and leaning forward, "I have a son, a wonderful son... And a wife..." He chuckled with a goofy grin, "a '_goddess_' for a wife." He said to her, making her grin and giggle, and give him a playful shove of the shoulder with her own.

"Flatterer." She murmured, blushing through her full white facial fur.

"But it's just the truth." He grinned, soon letting it fall toward a face of despair, "And now that I am hardwired, I can't let anything happen to either of you two. I don't know what it is Krys... I feel... I feel like... **SOMETHING** is going to happen down where we are going-"

"Then don't think like that, Foxy." She said slapping his shoulder and pointing her finger in his face giving him a stern look.

"God, I love that look." Fox said shaking his head, smiling. Krystal soon chuckled and swatted his hindquarters, issuing a fake moan from Fox as he rolled his eyes back in his head.

She chuckled again and returned her gaze out the viewport of the Great Fox and straightened her face so that it retained a more serious look to it, "But seriously Fox... Don't. think like that... Okay?" She trailed of and looked at Fox with pleading eyes.

"Yes mistress Krystal, of course mistress Krystal... I obey."

Krystal burst out laughing and punched Fox playfully on the shoulder, "Shut up!" She continued to laugh and pulled of in for a short hug. Fox smiled until he was in the hug, once his face was hidden his cheerful mood changed back to one that appeared that he was scared. Scared of what though, the mission? Even Fox didn't know. He put on a fake smile as he felt Krystal slowly start to release from him.

"Okay, I've made up my mind... We do the mission. We need the money and we'll have fun doing it too." Krystal replied as she held Fox out at arms reach. When she was finished speaking she stepped up to Fox and gave him a kiss, "Come on let's go find Slippy and see what he thinks."

She let go of Fox and gave him a saucy wink. She normally only gave Fox a wink like that when she wanted his affection under the bed sheets. This could have been one of those times but he couldn't tell right then. He couldn't tell, right up until she turned around going toward the bridge doors. She walked away quite slow, but not too slow. She sashayed her hips and flicked her tail around aimlessly. She wanted him to focus all of his attention on her. She knew what had his mind dancing in circles, but she didn't say anything about it to him, because she knew that it effected him highly.

'_God I love her... How did I get so fuckin' lucky to have her-_'

'_**Because you treat me so right and so wrong for the right reasons... Now come on, I'm not going to wait all day.**_'

They walked down the halls. And The couple stopped outside the elevator doors and called it, While they were waiting for it to arrive Krystal bent over and licked Fox's cheek, making him shudder. This had been something that Krystal would do a lot, she would lick Fox for no apparent reason just to feel him shudder under her might. Again ever since they have been married, Fox had opened up and most of his emotions had been controlled, but for fox's, every male has been hard wired from birth to surrender to any female who uses the affection of osculation. Sometimes Krystal would even lick chocolate sauce off his-

The elevator arrived with a sharp 'ding', snapping the duo out of their thoughts of another time, and the doors opened revealing Slippy, "Fox, Krystal... What're you two doin'?"

"We were just coming to find you." Krystal said, answering Slippy's Question before Fox had the chance to do so.

"Really? Wow. Maybe we're all telepathic in our own special ways because I was just coming to find you guys myself."

"Why, what's up Slip?" Fox asked, half worried and half curious.

"I've made up my mind... I'll do it."

"Thank you Slippy. Alright, looks like the mission is a go."

* * *

In the penthouse on the run down Sargasso station, Wolf O'Donnel was lounging in his black leather chair at the head of the small conference table. They've had to downgrade sizes a few times from the loss of a few teammates. Pigma Dengar and panther Caruso had either left the team in fear, (Pigma) or be cast off the team. Yes, panther had been cast off the team. He had been cast off a year after Fox and Krystal had got married. Panther would often go through withdrawals of not having Krystal on his team anymore. Or when she married, he was sad that she wasn't fair game anymore. Though he would get many different women each week, no one could replace his Krystal.

Wolf leaned back in his chair in the dark room and put his feet up on the table in the middle of the room. The table was the only thing that was lit up in the room. Something about this just gave the room a more secretive vibe to the room, concealing people's identities and for some people it kept them at bay with fear. Wolf took a drag on the last of his cigarette, and butted it out in the ashtray on his armrest. "So?" He asked, and sighed out the remaining smoke in his lungs and took a breath, "what's the scoop on this mission today, Leon."

"Well... I don't know if you want to do this mission boss."

"What are the details?" Wolf asked cocking a brow out of curiosity, both in Leon's tone of voice and his delay.

Leon leaned into the table and brought up a display in the middle of the conference table, "This is Maria Loo, she is on tour this month and tomorrow she will be on Corneria for her last public showing before she goes on vacation to Fortuna."

Wolf dropped his feet to the ground and leaned forward, exposing his face with his bionic eye to the dim yellow hue of the light above him, "What's that got to do with the mission?" Wolf asked as he picked up his pint of draft beer and raised the mug to his lips

"Well, some of Corneria's lower class, and some middle class think that she is a money hoarder. She has the money to '_buy_' Corneria ten times over-" Leon stated but was cut off by the earsplitting choking sound coming from Wolf.

By now Wolf was keeled over the table, coughing and hacking. When his fit subsided he looked up at Leon and glared at him, "I'm sorry, did you just say she has enough money to '_buy_'... Corneria '_ten_' times over?" Wolf asked in a raspy voice.

Leon just nodded, still playing with his illegal switchblade.

Wolfs eyes grew to the size of saucers and he reached into his vest pocket and withdrew another cigarette from its pack and lit it, "okay, so, what does the rest of the mission entail?" Wolf asked and puffed some on his cigarette.

"Well that's the thing, the lower class thinks that if she was scared enough she would donate money to the food foundation and then there could be less poverty."

"Pff, who cares about the poverty... How much they offering?"

"25 grand. Everyone came together to buy our fee."

"Not bad. What do we have to do anyway?"

"Just give her a scare of her life." Leon stated as he smiled demonically.

"I know how we could do that. You still got that poison dipped blade?"

"Right here," Leon smiled and opened the knife, bringing the blade down hard on the table burying the blade a half an inch in the hardwood table top.

"Good, it's a go then."

* * *

Fox, Krystal, and Slippy were still standing in front of the elevator doors. They were all conversing on how the upcoming mission was to be played out.

Fox was the first to speak after about a minute of silence, "Well Slippy, before we get back to General Peppy can you go down to the storage bay and take inventory and weapons status so we can place an order to him as we speak."

"Sure thing Fox, I'll get the log to you in a jiff." Slippy said and pressed the elevator open button. Since all of the crew was in one area there was no one that could possibly call the elevator anywhere else so it opened on command and Slippy entered pressing a button the doors shut and a quiet whirr was heard as the elevator lowered into the depths of the ship.

As soon as the elevator stopped at the level of the storage bay Fox's ears went back and a quiet groan of anxiety could be heard from him.

"What's the matter Foxy?" Krystal asked as she didn't want to probe his mind for the answer even though she probably already knew the answer to her question.

"It's just the mission. It's been a while since The Star Fox team has ever fulfilled a hit mission, and with me having a wife and son, it's just going to haunt my conscious for a long time to come." Fox said as he raised a paw to the back of his neck and rubbed gently, trying his hardest mentally to forget about the side effects of the upcoming mission.

Krystal was trapped in a thought at that moment as well, and needed to find a quick way to calm Fox down, then it hit her and she smiled slyly, "Well... Forget about that mission for now. '_I_' have a mission for you."

Fox was still glancing down at the deck plates as his triangular ears rose along with his left brow in curiosity, his head following a short moment later, "'_you_' have a mission, for '_me_'?"

"Hell yeah." Krystal said smiling cutely as she looked Fox in the eyes. She took a step closer so that she was within kissing distance of Fox, and raised a paw to his chest and pulled down on his flight vest's zipper as she finished speaking, "Here's your mission, carry me up to our room, and please me. I think that will get your mind of the task now don't you?"

Fox licked his lips and a smile came to his lips and kept growing until it was a grin of satisfaction, "Yeah I think that could keep the thought of the mission at bay for a while." Fox said and moved forward in one smooth motion and snatched Krystal off her feet by holding below her hindquarters and lightly threw her over his right shoulder. As soon as he grabbed her she cried out in joy and surprise and giggled. He used his arm and put it behind her knees to prevent her from falling and also so he could free his left arm and call the elevator so they could get to the crew quarters deck.

When the elevator arrived Fox entered, still with Krystal on his shoulder giggling like a schoolgirl, they proceeded down a level to the crew deck. When the doors opened it was like Fox was now on his mission, he acted on a straight face that he could barely hold because of Krystal's giggling and took large heavy and propose-full steps to his and Krystal's room.

Outside the room, Fox motioned his paw over the panel to open the door. It wouldn't open so he tried and tried again... no luck so, he wound up his right leg and gave the lowest right corner a forceful, short kick disengaging the lock, "breaching, breaching!" Fox called as the door slid into the wall on its track, this made Krystal laugh, every time Fox would act tough and strong during an upcoming intimate action made her laugh in joy.

Walking into the room the door slid shut on its track. Fox stood beside the bed and let her down onto her back, "Objective A of mission has been completed misses McCloud, please undress so I can issue a full search and evaluation of your gorgeous body."

Krystal giggled and gave him a playful salute, "Sir, yes sir!"

When she was done giving her salute she sat up and knelt down on her knees and raised her hands above her head reaching for the zipper, unable to reach it she brought her hands down and reached up from behind her back, still unable to reach it she sighed and frowned, "Sir, I am unable to undress myself. Will you help a lady like me get out of my tight, uncomfortable clothing?" She asked in the most helpless and cute voice she could muster and batted her eyelashes in a seductive manner.

"I would be honoured to do such a thing." Fox growled playfully and flicked his tail a few times and stepped up to bat.

"Thank you," she whispered as Fox got close to her and unzipped her blue and black flight suit.

"The rest is yours to do miss," Fox said in a playful stern voice taking a step back to see his wife full view.

* * *

Ten minutes later, storage bay, Great Fox

* * *

"Twenty Five rifles. Two, four, six, eight... Thirty five plasma grenades..." Slippy Toad was busy taking inventory of all the equipment that the Great Fox had in storage. He was on the final stretch of calculating and had an almost complete order form made up for the team to submit to the general for their mission.

"And six-hundred magazine batteries for the 2.0 rifles." Slippy finished the form and signed off on it, stating that it was accurate and applicable. "Now to find Fox and give him the details."

Slippy walked toward the elevator and pressed the call button and looked up to the top of the sliding doors and saw that the elevator was last used to go to the crew deck. Thinking nothing of it Slippy stood waiting for the elevator to arrive.

* * *

A sharp gasp left the muzzle of the blue female fox. Nothing terrible was happening quite yet. Sure they both had nothing on, but they were just under the sheet cuddling, and Fox was busy "pleasing" Krystal with his soft masculine touch.

"Seems like someone's been practising." Krystal murmured as she slipped her hand underneath herself and brushed Fox below the waistline.

"Seems like someone knows where to touch to get the valuables out of the safe." Fox chuckled and kissed her behind the ear, making her shudder for once.

"I keep forgetting about that spot. You always get me with that." Krystal murmured and turned her head so she could meet Fox's gaze.

"That's the point baby, you do it to me, I return the favour." Fox replied in a semi-gloating manner before kissing her on the lips and making his way down her neckline.

* * *

Bridge command centre, moments later.

* * *

"Where the hell is everybody? Hello? Fox? Krystal? Anyone! ROB! Rob! What is the current whereabouts of Fox and Krystal McCloud?"

"Fox and Krystal McCloud are located on the crew deck."

"Oh shit... Did they ask to not be disturbed at all?"

"Negative. No such orders were given." Came R.O.B.'s monotone reply.

"Okay, maybe they just went down so they could have a little privacy when they call Miyu and check on Markus... Wait, have there been any incoming or outgoing transmissions made in the last half hour?"

"Negative, comm. lines have been dormant since this morning at o' eight hundred hours. Do you wish to make a comm. link active at this time, Slippy Toad?"

"No."

"I'm sorry, 'no' isn't registered in my data banks. Please rephrase your answer-"

"NEGATIVE!" Slippy barked and thought to himself, '_I really have to update his orders banks._'

"Roger, comm. links will remain inactive."

Slippy sighed and brought a hand up to his face and scratched lightly, "Ah fuck," Slippy whispered to himself, '_T__he__y're__ gonna hate my guts after this_.' "Open comm. to the McCloud's' room." '_Fuck now I regret doing that.._.'

"Opening communicate, stand by."

* * *

"Oh... Fox, what have I missed out on for a week?" Krystal asked and released her tensed muscles

Fox stroked her thigh and kissed her neck and smiled, "I would say that you missed out on a-" Fox replied but was cut off mid-sentence by a tri-tone ring, the signature call sign of an in-ship communication.

Fox sat up in bed and rolled over to look at the terminal on the wall as it lit up, 'incoming communicate from bridge'

Fox groaned and laid back down on his king sized bed, "Answer call, audio only."

"_Fox!?_"

"'_Slippy_', you have five seconds to explain!"

"_Fox, the inventory log is done, and we are ready to call the __G__eneral_."

"Good!"

"_Er, is this a bad time?_"

"No Slippy, not at all, I'm just lying here, naked next to my beautiful wife, who's in the exact same state. No it's not a bad time at all! It's the worst possible time!"

"_Well, do you want me to leave you alone?_"

Fox sighed and turned his head to his wife and looked at her in the dim light of the room with pleading eyes and then sighed loudly so it was audible on the call, "No." He replied, in a drawn out and depressed voice, "it's limp already, so there's no point." He chuckled, "No point, heh, I crack myself up."

Fox laughed again and out of the corner of his eye he saw Krystal suppressing a laugh.

"Fun is done, time to get to work. End call." Fox called to the voice activated PA that was installed across from his bed. He rolled his body over so that he was fully facing his wife, Krystal. He smiled and then kissed her nose. "Sorry babe. Looks like we are going to have to wait."

Krystal giggled and shook lightly on the memory foam mattress, "It's really our fault, we didn't tell ROB to turn off all notifications of the day while we were '_busy_'."

Fox chuckled and turned up to the ceiling and sighed, "Well, do you want to shower first at least?"

"Sure." Krystal replied as she rolled over on top of Fox. Her light weight was nothing Fox couldn't handle, She kissed his forehead before she sat up and ground her hips against Fox's, "Just don't drop the soap." She said grinning and shaking her head.

"Oh, you want to play hardball? be sure '_you_' don't drop the soap girly." Fox replied to her threat with a half smirk and a light up-thrust to back his statement.

"Girly?! Your calling '_me_' girly? Who does most of the work here?" Krystal asked motioning her arms around the small space that they were laying on.

Fox smiled, "Me."

"That's right... Wait, no! I don't think so boy! You want me to tie you up again?"

"You know that I'd love that."

* * *

"_Fun is done, time to get to work. End call_."

Slippy had just gotten off the call with Fox and was now completely out of it. He didn't know what to do for once in his life, Slippy didn't know whether it was going to be Fox or Krystal that came up to the bridge and beat his face in for interrupting such an intimate moment.

"What were you thinking Slippy?" He asked himself in a mutter. He didn't feel like getting pummelled today, he was having to good of a week to feel like an insignificant being. Even after all these years, Slippy felt like it was his duty to be there for Fox and fix all that he could to save the team money, now he felt as bad as it could get.

He felt like he was going to get kicked off the team after this.

* * *

McCloud's room, twenty-five minutes later.

* * *

*THUNK*

"Aw, why'd you do that, Krys? I saw that, you intentionally dropped the soap!" Fox asked as a smile formed on his face.

"Hey, I'm done washing, you're not, so you have to pick that up not me." She replied with a smirk

"Um, no, that's not how it works, you've gotta pick that up and give it to me."

"Well... No." Krystal replied as she pawed the off switch to the shower water supply and stepped out grabbing a rolled up towel off the counter and throwing it at Fox's face. She proceeded over to the corner of the room and opened a cabinet and pulled out another rolled up towel. Dropping it intentionally, she bent over and picked it up.

"Oh sure," came a slightly muffled reply from Fox, "you'll bend over and give me a great view but you won't bend over in the shower and hand me the soap?"

Krystal giggled, "Yep. Were you standing right behind me when I picked up the towel?"

"No."

"Exactly. I'm exhausted enough as it is and I would still like to be able to stand on my own the rest of the day thank you very much." Krystal replied drying her hair with the large Egyptian cotton towel.

"What. A little poke and prod is going to make you that tired? I thought you knew what you were getting into when you accepted my marriage proposal."

Krystal laughed, "A... A little poke and prod? Fox, you and I both know that it wouldn't have stopped there."

Krystal turned to face Fox fully giving him a greater view of her svelte gorgeous figure. He smiled at her and ran his eyes up and down her body, she teased him by draping the towel around her neck and across her exposed chest and crossing her wrists in front of her ladyhood, issuing a frown from the red fox across the bathroom from her, "I'm sorry, did I block your view?" She taunted with a grin and a tilt of her head.

"Kinda, yeah." He admitted and finished drying his shorter white hair and upper torso and tied the towel around his waist, essentially causing Krystal's facial feature to shift slightly but almost unnoticeable. Though with Fox being Krystal's husband, he knew how to pick out the little things in Krystal's physique, and this brought a small smile of satisfaction to his face, along with a slight chuckle, he covered up with a cough.

But like Fox, Krystal knew how to pick up on the little things of Fox, "What's so funny?" She asked in a demanding tone.

"Oh nothing," he replied with a smile and tilted his head down to hide it. When he figured he did his best in covering the smile on his lips, he walked over to the vanity and looked himself in the clear mirror and straightened his hair with a comb that was beside the tap controls.

This wasn't your everyday mirror either, this was an auto de-fogging mirror. Though it looked regular, behind it was a circulating apparatus that used hot water from the shower and ran across the back of the mirror glass to match the shower water temperature and therefore preventing fog from forming on it during and after a lengthy shower.

"That wasn't nothing mister McCloud. What're you hiding from me?"

"It's nothing. Now C'mon, we gotta call the General and tell him we're doing the mission."

"Way to cover-up. But okay, I know. What should I wear? Should I put my flight suit back on or should I pick something else?" Krystal asked stepping out of the room into the master suite, while Fox was watching her walk away through the vision of the mirror he was busy doing a run through of his life.

'_What if she didn't come back? What if Panther was a better man than me at the time? EW why did I even go there!? He makes my skin crawl, but really... what choice was it in the last few years? What was it that, if I chose the opposite would've drove her away? I don't want to think about it but really but, if I had have done one small thing wrong... would I be standing here looking at that gorgeous nude woman if I had?_'

'_**No, you wouldn't. And yes, I think Panther is disgusting as well, that's one of the reasons why I saved myself for you. Now hurry up, with the amount of time you took on your mental merry-go-round, I'm already dressed and your still in a hot towel. So hurry the hell up and get dressed lolly gagger!**_'

"Holy, how long did I take?" Fox asked as he spun around to face Krystal who was standing in the doorway, fluffing her silky hair dry with her head tilted to the side.

"About ten minutes." She shrugged,

"What? What time is it?"

"Quarter to three."

"We better hurry or else the office will close."

"Ey, speak for yourself Towelman." She chuckled and used her advanced telepathic power to loosen the towel around his waist causing it to fall to the floor dead.

* * *

"Come on Fox, the office is going to close. Where are you?" Slippy asked, growing more impatient by the second. The longer he sat up on the bridge the more he felt like calling the General himself and asking him if he would wait up for Fox to tell him everything.

Soon enough, the doors to the bridge opened and Fox came through first followed by Krystal shortly behind.

"Finally! I thought you two would never show up!" Slippy whined to the two swift fox's that had entered the bridge.

"Glad to see you too Slippy, any word from the General?"

"No, but you better call him before he goes home."

"Right. Dial it up then, good sir."

"Are, you okay buddy." Slippy asked hesitantly,

"I'm great, but I'd like to talk to the General, so..." Fox gestured to the holoemitor in front of him

"Right," Slippy dialled up the comm.

Seconds later the General answered it personally in his office, "General." Fox saluted with a straightened stance. He never really did this with General Pepper but Peppy was different, Peppy was his mentor and occasionally teacher as well so he showed more respect for his position.

"At ease Fox."

"Thank you sir, I-"

"Your mission has been cancelled."

* * *

_**There we have chapter two. Thoughts, concerns? I think I stretch the teen rating, you readers will have to let me know. And PLEASE do so I don't like my hard work going to waste because its been flagged by a reader and stripped from the site by . though it may not seem like i put thought into writing this, i do put A LOT of thought into this. I plan on making this story run around seven or eight chapters so be sure to follow this for updates and don't forget to drop me a Review (Or even PM me to find out whats been going on in my head to write this. Or if you want to talk thats cool too) and let me know what you think about the story so far. And if you are really nice and want to see my long story that I keep mentioning, go to my profile and vote in the poll. (It'll give me inspiration i swear!) Till next time, keep the inspiration coming, Writers that means you... (**_**XxsanitariumxX, Kit-Karamak, SyxxFox, Emile The Watcher, The Pen Vs The Sword****_)_ top writers in my opinion. keep up the great work guys!**

_**Peace, **_

_**-C**_


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